Barrel lifter



Sept. 24, 1957 Filed Oct. 5, 1953 W. RYAN ETAL BARREL LIFTER Sheets-Sheet 2 WILLA/90 RYAN 8 RO8ERT 8. EVANS,

INVENTORJ- HUEBNE/BBEEHLEF, WORREL & HERZ/G',

A TTORNEVS.

Patented Sept. 24, 1957 BARREL LIFTER Willard Ryan and Robert 8. Evans, Long Beach, Calif., assignors to Willard Ryan, doing business as Ryan Transfer & Storage, Long Beach, Calif.

Application October '5, 1953, Serial N 0. 384,072

10 Claims. (Cl. 294-90) This invention relates generally to apparatus suitable for mechanically handling barrels or similar containers, either as an element of equipment in processing, manu facturing, or packaging establishments, or as freight handlig equipment capable of lifting and lowering such containers'and of moving or transporting the lifted containers in loading, unloading, or storage operations. More specifically our invention is directed to an apparatus for mechanicallyhandling barrels and similar containers which are provided with laterally projecting rims, flanges, or hoops which may be readily engaged by the lifting elements of the apparatus.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for this purpose which includes an elevator mechanism dependingly supporting barrel engaging means that may be lowered to automatically embrace the upper end portion of an upstanding barrel below the top rim or flange thereof preparatory to a subsequent lifting operation and which, in the lifting operation, will engage said top rim or flange to lift the barrel.

A further object is to associate with the barrel lifting means, a release mechanism which, when the barrel has been lowered to a position of rest, may be operated to disengage said barrel lifting means from the barrel.

Another object is to provide an apparatus having a single elevator mechanism dependingly supportinga plurality of barrel engaging means of duplicate character adapted to simultaneously engage and lift several barrels.

Another object is to mount the elevator mechanism and its barrel engaging and lifting means on a powered ve-' hicle so as to provide a powered mobile lift-truck capable of being maneuvered to align said barrel engaging means with the barrel to be lifted and to subsequently transport the lifted barrel to a new location.

A further object is to provide an elevator mechanism and a release mechanism each of which may be actuated by means of the power source of the mobile truck.

Various other objects and advantages will be more fully apparent from the following description ,of the accompanying drawings which form a part of this disclosure and which illustrate a preferred form of embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a perspective view of the complete apparatus.

Figure 2 is a partial elevation of the upper portion of the elevator mechanism.

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail plan viewtaken on line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation viewed 1 in the direction of the arrow '4 and showing the lifting spider and one -of the associated barrel engaging mechanisms. I

Figure 5 is a de'tail plan section taken on line-5+5 of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a detail vertical section taken on line 6'.6 of 'Figure S.

In Figure: "l of the drawings the apparatus of :thezpresent invention is shown associated with a well-known type of mobile lift-truck, designated generally by the reference numeral 10. However, it is to be understood that such apparatus may be associated with other specific types of elevator mechanisms, either mobile or stationary, and that the elevator mechanism, per se, may be actuated by any suitable source of power.

The lift-truck 10 of the illustrated apparatus has the usual upright frame 11 mounted on the front portion of the truck chassis and providing relatively spaced vertical side rails 12 and a lower connecting base plate 13. These side rails are usually formed of structural steel channels so as to function as parallel guideways for the elevator 14 which includes a crosshead 15. The usual hydraulic actuating strut 16 is disposed on the base plate 13 between the side rails 12 and is secured thereon by welding or in any other suitable manner. This actuating strut extends upwardly and is provided with a piston 17 which abuts and is connected to the crosshead 15 of the elevator.

The lift-truck is providedwith a lift-plate 18 which extends across the forward face of the frame 11 and is guided thereby to slide vertically in relation to said frame. This lift-plate is dependingly supported on the crosshead 15 of the elevator by means of a pair .of chains 19 connected at opposite ends to said crosshead and said lift-plate by suitable anchoring means.

This elevator mechanism is actuated in the usual manner from the power source or motor of the mobile .truck under control of the operator.

The barrel lifting mechanism includes a framework providing a vertically disposed mast 2%), preferably tubular, and a horizontal tubular boom 21 extending forwardly from the upper end of said mast. The lower portion of the mast '20 is secured, preferably by welding, to the front face of the medial portion of an attach plate 22 which has a width comparable to that of the liftplate 1 8 of the lift-truck and a height somewhat greater than the height of said lift-plate 18 so as to extend slightly above the upper edge of the plate 18. Secured by welding to this extended upper edge portion of said plate 22 is a lateral edge strip or bar 23 formed to hook over the upper edge of the lift-plate 18, as shown in Figure 1 of the drawings. With the plate 22 thus engaged on the lift-plate 18 of the truck, it is detachably secured 'in place by bolts '24 which extend through the plate 22 and through bolt holes already formed in the lift-plate 18.

By this means, or by similar means, our bar-rel handling mechanism may be readily attached to any of several standard lift-trucks now available.

Mounted :on the inner portion of the boom 21, by a bracket 25, is .a "release actuator '26 which may be of any desired type suitable for our purpose.

in the present instance it is preferable to use a vacuu'm diaphragm type actuator having a vacuum hose line 27 leading to a suitable vacuum chamber (not shown) which may be carried by the lift-truck and exhausted by the motor thereof.

An axially slidable piston rod 28 is attached to the diaphragm of the actuator and its outer end is provided with arcable attach plate 29 (see Figure 2).

.As shown in Figures 1, .2 and 3 of the drawings, the outer end portion of 'the boom21 has attached thereto a framework .30 in which ;is horizontally vjournalled two opposed pairs of relatively :aligned :grooved :pulleys 3.1, the purpose and function of which will be later explained.

At rthe outer end of -'the'boom 21 is secured a-depending clevis 32 positioned for engagement by :ahook 33 which supports the barrel engaging mechanism in :the manner shown in Figures 1 and 4.

The lower end of the hook 33 is :secured to a horizontal beam 34having four radial arms 35 each of which carries one of the barrel engaging and lifting mechanisms. This beam is of hollow construction and is preferably formed of structural steel plates and shapes welded together to form a rigid unit.

With particular reference to Figure 4 of the drawings, it will be observed that within each of the arms 35 of the beam 34 there is horizontally journalled an inner sheave 36 and an outer sheave 37 which lie in a common vertical plane, the purpose and function of which sheaves will be later explained. Each of the arms 35 at its outer end is provided with a pair of relatively short exterior brackets 38 extending laterally from the opposite side walls thereof.

In the preferred embodiment shown in Figure l of the drawings the apparatus includes four barrel engaging and lifting means which are designated generally by the reference numeral 40, and which will function simultaneously to engage and lift four barrels in a single actuation of the apparatus. r However, it will be obvious that a greater or less number of such means may be provided to increase or decrease the capacity of the apparatus without departing from the intent of the present invention; in fact, it may be desirable, in certain specificqinstances, to construct an apparatus having only one of these barrel handling means. Such modifications may easily be made by the ordinary mechanic skilled in this art.

Since the four barrel engaging and lifting means 40 are of duplicate construction and operate in like manner, it is believed that a detailed description of one of them will sutfice for the purpose of this disclosure.

With particular reference to Figures 4, and 6 of the drawings, it will be noted that each of said means '40 is dependingly supported on one of the arms 35 of the beam 34 by means of apair of chains 41 connected at their upper ends to the brackets 38 by means of eye bolts 42 and their associated nuts.

The lower ends of said chains are connected at'43 to the hub 44 of what may be termed a lifting spider in that it includes this hub or body and four circularly spaced radial arms 45. The hub 44 is preferably formed of structural steel plates and angles welded together, to form a rigid unit and, as shown in section in Figure 5 of the drawings, these angles are relatively spaced to form four vertical slotsin which are disposed the inner ends of the four arms 45 which are horizontally pivoted to said angles by bolts 46 and their associated nuts.

Each of the arms 45 has a depending outer end 47 provided with an inwardly facing angled guide shoe 48 having an upper extension forming a lifting abutment 49. These lifting arms have an over-all span sufiicient to embrace the upper end of an upright barrel. Also they are, unless restrained,,free to move vertically and for this reason can be termed gravity or weight arms.

Associated with each barrel engaging means 40 is a release mechanism which includes a horizontal release plate 50 disposed beneath the hub 44 and its associated legs 45. This release plate is provided with four upstanding guide loops 51 of clevis form, each embracing one of said arms, and at its center said plate has attached thereto an upstanding rigid actuating rod 52 which slidably projects through aligned holes in the hub 44 and is provided with an upper clevis end 53.

Attached to the clevis end 53 of the release actuating rod 52 of each of the four barrel engaging means is a release cable 54 which extends upwardly to engage over and under the respective sheaves 37 and :36 of the beam 35 and thence upwardly through a suitable opening in the top plates of the beam 34, as shown in Figure 4 of the drawings.

As shown inFigures l and 2, the four cables 54 extend over the aligned grooved pulleys 31 on the outer end of the boom 21 and thence rearwardly, their upper ends being attached to the cable attach plate 29 of the release actuator 26, previously described.

Operation In the normal condition of the apparatus, the barrel engaging means 40, with their release plates 50 in lowermost position and the legs resting thereon, will be raised sufficiently to clear the barrels which have been properly grouped for subsequent lifting.

If the apparatus is of a stationary character the barrels will be properly positioned under the lifting means 40, but if said apparatus is of the mobile type it will be maneuvered to align said lifting means with the grouped barrels.

In said normal condition of the apparatus the arms 45 of the several lifting means 40 will, under the influence of gravity, hang in the slightly collapsed position which, in Figure 4, as indicated by the phantom lines 60. Upon lowering the elevator and its associated mechanism, the angled guide shoes 40 of the spider arms 45 will engage the top rim or hoop 61 of the barrel 62, as shown in said Figure 4, after which a continued lowering will cause said shoes to ride downwardly over said barrel rim and then fall into the full line position shown so as to bring the abutments 49under said rim. The apparatus may then be raised to lift the thus engaged barrels.

The lifted barrels may then be raised to any height within the capacity of the elevator.

If the apparatus is of a stationary character, the raised barrels may be subsequently lowered on any suitable freighting truck or vehicle run under the elevated barrels. However, with the illustrated mobile apparatus the lifted barrels may be transported to a new location and then deposited and released.

In either event the release of the barrels is accomplished by energizing the vacuum release actuator 26 so as to exert a pull on its piston and the connected release cables 54. This pull on said cables will, through the rods 52, elevate the release plates in relation to the several spider arms 45 of the four lifting units 40. In this manner said armswill be moved to an expanded position, indicated in Figure 4 by the plantom lines 63, thus disengaging the apparatus from the deposited barrels.

While the specific embodiment herein disclosed is well adaped to fulfill the objectsprimarily stated, it is to be understood that it is not our intention to confine the present invention to such embodiment for it is susceptible of embodiment in various other forms.

Having described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A barrel lifting apparatus comprising; an elevator mechanism having a lateral boom, barrel lifting means depending from said boom and including a series of laterally extending radial gravity arms circularly spaced and horizontally pivoted for independent movement, each of said arms having an outer depending end formed to provide a guide shoe angled to freely ride downwardly over a marginal hoop or rim of an upstanding barrel and an adjacent lifting abutment facing upwardly to engage said hoop or rim in a barrel lifting operation, and release means operable to disengage said arms from the barrel when it is lowered to a position of rest comprising a horizontal release member disposed beneath said arms, a guide loop embracing each of said arms outwardly of the pivots of said arms and attached to said member, and lift means for raising said member and spreading said arms for release from the barrel.

2. A barrel lifting apparatus comprising; an elevator mechanism having a lateral boom, barrel lifting means depending from said boom and including a lifting spider having a hub and a series of laterally extending radial gravity arms circularly spaced and horizontally pivoted at their inner ends to said hub for independent movement, each of said arms having an outer depending end formed to provide a guide shoe angled to freely ride downwardly over a marginal hoop or rim of an upstanding barrel and ,an adjacent lifting abutment facing upwardly to engage said hoop or rim in a barrel lifting operation, and release means operable to disengage said arms from the barrel when it is lowered to a position of rest comprising a horizontal release member disposed beneath said arms, a guide loop embracing each of said arms and attached to said member, and lift means for raising said member and spreading said arms for release from the barrel.

3. A barrel lifting apparatus comprising; an elevator mechanism having a lateral boom, a beam carried by said boom, a plurality of barrel lifting means depending from said beam, each of said means including a hub and a series of laterally extending radial gravity arms circularly spaced and horizontally pivoted at their inner ends to said hub for independent movement and each of said arms having an outer depending end formed to provide a guide shoe angled to freely ride downwardly over a marginal hoop or rim of an upstanding barrel and an adjacent lifting abutment facing upwardly to engage said hoop or rim in a barrel lifting operation, and release means operable to disengage all of said arms of the several barrel lifting means from the respective barrels when they are lowered to positions of rest comprising a horizontal release member disposed beneath said arms, a guide loop embracing each of said arms and attached to said member, and lift means for raising said member and spreading said arms for release from the barrel.

4. A barrel lifting apparatus comprising; a framework having an attachment plate adapted for attachment to the elevator of a mobile lift-truck, said framework also having a lateral boom, barrel lifting means depending from said boom and including a series of laterally extending radial gravity arms circularly spaced and horizontally pivoted for independent movement, each of said arms having an outer depending end formed to engage under a marginal hoop or rim of an upstanding barrel in a lifting operation, and release means operable to disengage said arms from the barrel when it is lowered to a position of rest comprising a horizontal release member disposed beneath said arms, a guide loop embracing each of said arms outwardly of the pivots of said arms and attached to said member, and lift means for raising said member and spreading said arms for release from the barrel.

5. A barrel lifting apparatus comprising; a framework having an attachment plate adapted for attachment to the elevator of a mobile lift-truck, said framework also having a lateral boom, a beam carried by said boom, a

plurality of barrel lifting means depending from said' beam, each of said means including a hub and a series of laterally extending radial gravity arms circularly spaced and horizontally pivoted at their inner ends to said hub, each of said arms having an outer depending end formed to engage under a marginal hoop or rim of an upstanding barrel in a barrel lifting operation, and release means operable to disengage all of said arms of the several barrel lifting means from the respective barrels when they are lowered to positions of rest comprising a horizontal release member disposed beneath said arms, a guide loop embracing each of said arms and attached to said member, and lift means for raising said member and spreading said arms for release from the barrel.

6. A powered barrel lifting and transporting apparatus comprising; a mobile lift-truck having an elevator provided with a lateral boom, barrel lifting means depending from said boom and including gravity-actuated lifting arms pivotally connected to said lifting means and formed to engage under a marginal hoop or rim of an upstanding barrel, and release means operable to disengage Said arms from the barrel when it is lowered to a position of rest comprising a horizontal release member disposed beneath said arms, a guide loop embracing each of said arms and attached to said member, and lift means for raising said member and spreading said arms for release from the barrel.

7. A powered barrel lifting and transporting apparatus comprising; a mobile lift-truck having an elevator provided with a lateral boom, a beam carried by said boom,

' a plurality of barrel lifting means depending from said beam, each of said means including a series of gravityactuated lifting arms pivotally connected to said means and formed to engage under a marginal hoop or rim of an upright barrel, and release means operable to disengage all of said arms of the several barrel lifting means from the respective barrels when they are lowered to positions of rest comprising a horizontal release member disposed beneath said arms, a guide loop embracing each of said arms and attached to said member, and lift means for raising said member and spreading said arms for release from the barrel.

8. A barrel lifting apparatus comprising a series of laterally extending radial arms circularly spaced and horizontally pivoted for independent movement under gravity, each of said arms having an outer depending end formed to provide a guide shoe angled to freely ride downwardly over a marginal rim of an upstanding barrel and an adjacent lifting abutment facing upwardly to engage said rim in a barrel lifting operation, a horizontal release member disposed beneath said arms, a guide loop embracing each of said arms outwardly of the pivots of said arms and attached to said member, and lift means for raising said member and spreading said arms for release from the barrel.

9. A barrel lifting apparatus comprising a lifting spider having a hub and a series of laterally extending radial arms circularly spaced and horizontally pivoted at their inner ends to said hub for independent movement under gravity, each of said arms having an outer depending end formed to provide a guide shoe angled to freely ride downwardly over a marginal rim of an upstanding barrel and an adjacent lifting abutment facing upwardly to engage said rim in a barrel lifting operation, a horizontal release plate disposed beneath said arms, a guide loop embracing each of said arms and attached to said plate, and lift means for raising said plate and spreading said arms for release from the barrel.

10. A barrel lifting apparatus comprising a central member and a plurality of laterally extending radial arms circularly spaced and horizontally pivoted at their inner ends to said central member for independent movement under gravity, each of said arms having means at its outer end defining a guide shoe angled to freely ride downwardly and outwardly over a marginal rim of an upstanding barrel and an adjacent lifting abutment facing upwardly to engage said rim in a barrel lifting operation, a release device disposed beneath said arms, and lift means slidably guided by said central member for raising said device relative to said central member for lifting and spreading said arms for release from a barrel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,060,696 Naucler May 6, 1913 2,497,118 Ferrario et al Feb. 14, 1950 2,548,064 Reinhart Apr. 10, 1951 2,554,433 Warren May 22, 1951 2,576,193 Reynolds Nov. 27, 1951 

